Press Release

August 28, 2014

Salt Lake City — Varian Medical Systems broke ground yesterday on new construction that will expand its current Salt Lake City manufacturing facility and allow for the consolidation of operations currently underway outside of Utah. The company expects the expansion to ultimately lead to 1,000 new full time jobs in the state over the next 20 years.

“Utah is home to hardworking people with immense engineering and technical talent, many of whom can be credited with Varian’s success in the manufacturing of our state-of-the-art X-ray technology,” said Dow Wilson, CEO of Varian Medical Systems.

Salt Lake City serves as the headquarters for manufacturing Varian’s X-ray products and the additional space will allow for Varian’s flat panel image detector and X-ray tube product lines as well as cleanrooms, R&D laboratories, expanded manufacturing space and administrative offices. Today, approximately 70 percent of the orders for X-ray products come from customers outside the U.S., making Varian Medical Systems one of Utah’s largest exporters.

Joining Wilson with shovels in hand, Senator Orrin Hatch); Val Hale, executive director of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development; Jeff Edwards, CEO of the Economic Development Corporation of Utah; Sunny Sanyal, senior vice president and president of Imaging Components Businesses; and those credited with the design and construction, marked the site of the expansion after meeting with Varian employees and touring the existing facility.

“This is an exciting day for Varian Medical Systems and for the state of Utah,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch. “Varian has made a significant contribution to Utah's economy and our local community for decades.”

The effort to expand Varian’s presence in Salt Lake City began in January of this year through a partnership with the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED). The GOED Board of Directors has approved a tax credit of some $7.1 million in the form of a post-performance Economic Development Tax Increment Finance (EDTIF) incentive, in anticipation of receiving more than $35 million from Varian in new state tax revenues over the 15-year life of the agreement. Each year as Varian meets the criteria in its contracts with the state, it will earn a portion of the tax credit.

Currently, Varian employs 860 people in Utah. The expansion is planned toadd 135,000 square feet to the existing 341,000 square foot building and is expected to generate more than $400 million in new state wages.